as published in The Local – French news in English
A French animal rights’ group claimed on Thursday that horsemeat imported to France from North and South America comes from animals treated with a dangerous drug that’s banned from human consumption.
Horses from the United States, Canada and other countries in the region whose meat is sold in France for human consumption pose a health risk and are often cruelly treated, a leading animal rights group said on Thursday.
L214, which derives its name from an article in a 1976 French law that stipulates that animals have to be kept properly and in healthy conditions, said the conclusions followed a wide-reaching, two-year investigation launched in 2012.
Horses from the US, Canada, Mexico, Uruguay and Argentina destined for human consumption were found to be emaciated, sick, injured or had been administered strong doses of anti-inflammatory medicines, according to the findings.
Using secret cameras, the probes were conducted at horse auctions, in export enclosures, at veterinary checkpoints, feedlots and abattoirs.
In a video posted on L214’s website, horses are seen with open gashes, dislocated or broken legs, and left without treatment in feedlots.
Some are visibly dead and in a state of decomposition, in enclosures or in transport trucks, with other horses squeezed around them.
“Apart from the unacceptable treatment of the horses, the use of phenylbutazone or other dangerous substances banned in the European Union is common,” said L214’s Brigitte Gothiere.
The drug, commonly referred to as bute, is used to alleviate pain in horses that are not destined for human consumption. It was originally also given to humans to treat rheumatoid arthritis and gout but was found to cause irreversible liver damage when combined even in small doses with other human painkillers.
The drug is no longer approved for human use in the European Union and United States.
The revelations follow a Europe-wide health scare last year when horsemeat was found in millions of ready meals labelled as containing only beef.
The group called Thursday upon leading supermarket chains to shun horsemeat coming from the Americas to put an end to the “cruel and illegal treatment” of
the animals.
It carried out the study in conjunction with other animal lobby groups including Switzerland’s Tierschutzbund-Zurich, Animals Angels’ USA, Belgium’s GAIA and Eyes on Animals in the Netherlands.
According to the groups, 82,000 horses were slaughtered in Canada in 2012 for human consumption. About 70 percent of them were imported from the United States, where horse abattoirs were closed down in 2007.
France, meanwhile, imported 16,900 tonnes of horsemeat in 2012, mainly from Canada, Belgium, Argentina, Mexico and Uruguay — many of the countries featured in the investigation.
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Categories: Horse News, Horse Slaughter
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
This will put a ‘hurting’ on the exporting of U.S. “domestic” horses but it could also put an even bigger target on 50,000 +\- ‘wild’ horses currently incarcerated by the BLM. 50,000 drug-free horses that a current lawsuit in Nevada is insisting be sold without question. 50,000 horses whose value will increase dramatically should the EU put a stop to all importing of domestic U.S. horsemeat. Over half of the total number of a native species are at risk of being wiped out. Politicians in the western states will throw their hands in the air and say “what else are we to do with them?” “We can’t afford to keep them!” They refuse to accept the fact there is plenty of room for them in the wild. They refuse to admit the horses will adapt to the range and regulate their own populations over time. They will continue to trust the word of the morons at the BLM who insist they know better than anyone else how to manage wild horses and burros. They will ignore a 42 year history of failure by the Wild Horse and Burro program. They will ignore the fact that Congress has depleted the rangelands designated by the Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act for greedy purposes both commercial and political.
We have to nip this forecast in the butt. We need Congress to act on behalf of nature and not the greeneyed monster. Elections this year are so vital in our efforts. We must insist our candidates explain to us their stance on the future of our wild horses and burros…not to mention wolves, bison, polar bears etc. It’s time to start calling and writing asking for answers from the current crop of dolts on the hill and in our state houses.
Now more than ever we have to come together with one voice. A voice that is loud and clear. A voice that votes!
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They are not drug free. They are eating genetically modified alfalfa. Congress has denied any funding to their slaughter, transport or sale for slaughter. What sad news BLM brings to the vast array of rancher vendors who are presently sucking up the scant millions is – find another line of work. The money being spent on the horses is piddling compared to other programs for say, eugenics on a global scale (575 million). The sky is not falling. We need to DEMAND a moratorium on alll wild horse and burro activity except to feed those in captIvity. Stop the adoptions, transport to venues etc for at least 10 years and get scientific teams out to record. It is also a good time to DEMAND grazers pay up or get off. The destruction of grazing is well documented such that it is clear it will take at least a decade or more for the wild lands to recover.
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Jan, good points. Why can’t we require the grazing fees to cover the cost of vaccinating captive horses – which at 50,000 and counting in unnaturally large bands surely creates a disease risk? At a minimum all those horses should be getting regular Rhino shots, for example, and many many others. Anyone keeping a horse in a large group would know that is a minimum standard of care.
They should also be getting dewormed regularly, since they are confined in their own wastes against their nature. Again, minimum standard of care.
Basic health care practices mean these horses would NOT be drug free if managed professionally. Any private citizen, for example, that hoarded 50,000 horses in close quarters without vaccinating or deworming them would be sent promptly to jail.
These minimal health care standards of course would be expensive but should be done, and maybe the grazing fees can pay for this expense they create.
It also should be considered against the far less expensive option of returning them to the wild, and confining the cattle and sheep.
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I just don’t get it anymore. What is so important to these people about eating a horse hat they are willing to poison themselves and their fellow statesmen?
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This is nothiing but GOOD news. Plainly written and factual – truth needs nothing else.
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Is there a link someplace to the actual study, not just the article?
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This is AUSOM NEWS!!!! Maybe finally we are getting somewhere to stop the slaughter of our horses. People are starting to take there heads out of the sand and realize what they are actually putting in their bodies and it isnt good with horse meat or any other type of meat product. Our horses need our voices to be loud and clear, and the advocates that are working hard on stopping the horrific act of horse slaughter and other cruel slaughter of animals be PROUD it is finally working. We have a long ways to go but keep up the good work.
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Finally they are waking up…about time !
🙂
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There may be thousands of victims all over the EU that have come down with one of the diseases that can be caused by the eating of contaminated horse meat from the US. If someone counted the long list of drugs used on US horses that can cause unexplained illness you wouldn’t know where to start. Most of the drugs have never been given to humans so no one really knows how any one of them could manifest itself in a person. When big Pharma is developing these equine drugs I assume they are tested on horses, does anyone know what happens to the equine lab rats? Are they killed or are they quietly sent to slaughter? I have never looked into to that part of this mess.
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I’m glad someone is trying to find out the truth.
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I can only hope that good will finally come to all the equine in the US and ALL over!
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